Icelanders will soon be able to publicly worship at a shrine to Thor, Odin and Frigg with construction starting this month on the island’s first major temple to the Norse gods since the Viking age.
Worship of the gods in Scandinavia gave way to Christianity around 1,000 years ago but a modern version of Norse paganism has been gaining popularity in Iceland.
“I don’t believe anyone believes in a one-eyed man who is riding about on a horse with eight feet,” said Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson, high priest of Asatruarfelagid, an association that promotes faith in the Norse gods.
“We see the stories as poetic metaphors and a manifestation of the forces of nature and human psychology.”
Membership in Asatruarfelagid has tripled in Iceland in the last decade to 2,400 members last year, out of a total population of 330,000, data from Statistics Iceland showed.
So a temple that worships gods that the faithful know full well were created by man, simply so they can enjoy their cultural heritage and the fables of their forefathers.
Best reason to build a temple ever!
And SO much easier to accept than the Judeo Christian god with all of his rules and threats of eternal damnation.
If Thor gets mad at you he simply strikes you with lightning and that's it. Seems much more reasonable.
